Messages from John and the Team, Friday 17th June 2022
Hi everyone,
Well, the weather does finally seem to be getting better! And not before time! Hope you have a decent weekend lined up where you can enjoy it somehow.
One thing it does mean for us here though is to be very mindful of the sun and its effect on the pupils, so please do send in whatever it is that you usually do at this time of the year, whether it’s cream, a hat or whatever. It’s a strange thing that we complain when it’s rainy or windy, but the one that can often do the most damage – the sun – is the one we like! No, we’d just appreciate your help with keeping the children healthy in this weather. Cheers
Elsewhere in the blog, there’s some great sport, some pretty great STARS, and some very very nice things happening in MOVE, and lots of other lessons. It’s also great to have the Makaton signs every week, and there’s a few things to look out for such as Parent Consultations, Reading stuff, Prom, Fair and all sorts. Hope this gives you a few minutes of interest and diversion anyway
And please do read about This is Me
You Said, We Listened: Parent View
Do go over and look at Eileen’s blog too, if you haven’t already – there’s always good stuff on there that’s very helpful. Enjoy!
Eileen also sent out a Parent View questionnaire; thanks for getting those back to us – we’ll have a look at what comes back and see what it all says and means. Please do let us know about the things that concern you
Parent Consultations, and Coffee & Catch-up
- The new Parent/Carer Consultations are from the 27th June to the 8th July
- Please do book a 20-minute appointment at a convenient time during this two week period, face-to-face or on Teams, whatever suits you
- The teacher will go through the work that’s been done and how your child has been doing, and anything else that’s relevant too, like Key Drivers, Annual Review targets, safeguarding
- We plan to do one of those every term, towards the end of each term
- The Coffee & Catch-up sessions are more informal are what used to be the Coffee Mornings. Again, these will be three times a year, but in the first half of each term
End of Year Reports
- The teachers are just gearing up to write these now
- The format is based on the Key Drivers that you’ve been working with us on through the topics that we’ve been teaching in school
- There’ll also be a general section and a note of attendance. We hope that they’ll be useful and meaningful, and that you’ll enjoy reading them. Few weeks yet!
Reading
- Wed 22md June 9.30 – 11am – an introduction to phonics and Essential Letters & Sounds
- Please do joining us in the school for a cuppa and a look at how we teach reading. It’s really interesting, I can guarantee it!
The Wheel
| This Is Me Mini Festival
Here’s a message from Jo and Leanne about an exciting new thing that’s happening soon Next week is National School Diversity Week and the students are planning their very own “This Is Me” mini-festival to take place in school on Friday 8th July. Students will be creating information leaflets within lessons on areas of diversity such as: LBGTQ+, neurodiversity, race, feminism, etc, that will be distributed at the festival. The event will include activities for students to choose from throughout the day including a reading/drama corner, giant games and a catwalk. There will also be a “shopping village” of stalls of which enterprise groups are planning and creating food, beverages and merchandise for festival-goers to buy. The whole school event will come together at the end of the day for our “This Is Me” march and we would like the students to come dressed in whatever makes them feel fabulous (festival gear, fancy dress, PJs, couture). We’re on the hunt for the following donations if you have any: unused face paint, photo booth props, fashion accessories, glitter and rainbow anything really! The event will be raising money for a charity which will be chosen by our students. Tickets will cost £1 per student of which they will exchange for a wristband on the day and will be available from Jo or Leanne. They will also need some spending money for the shopping village. We have a small group of students from George Stephenson involved as an inclusion project, they will help plan and run the event. Hopefully we’ll also have some entertainment from local artists, drag queens and students too. The day will celebrate individuality within our school culture, will provide an opportunity to practice functional organisational and money skills and also to bring the fun experience of a festival to our students. If you have any questions, queries or concerns, please contact Jo, Leanne or Lizzie on j.ferguson@percyhedley.org.uk and l.daley@percyhedley.org.uk, or your class teacher if you feel more comfortable. Therapy Focus – MOVing All Over the World Another absolutely amazing piece of work from the MOVE team this week – truly inspirational! Have a look at it over on the PHF blog here https://www.percyhedley.org.uk/saving-the-planet-with-move/ There’s millions of photos on there and some really interesting writing too. Great stuff So many of the children got so much out of it, and it was so educational – and fun at the same time!
Something Great from Post 16…. This morning a post-16 group went to the shops to buy the ingredients for today’s Food Tech session, using maths skills to calculate to the best value for money when buying the chicken and making a saving of £2.50…we all like a good bargain! Then they all got to work to prepare their chicken wraps for lunch. As you can see from the photos there are some really great food preparation skills and cooking going the on. The end products looked amazing too!! Great work, Guys!!
Allotment News from Jo! As part of “Moving all over the world” Sandpipers visited their allotment again this week and worked hard looking after their green space. They also looked at how items had been repurposed and what strategies are used to help harness natural resources or conserve energy.
George planted and watered flowers to attract pollinators
Jack planted a raised bed very compactly to reduce empty spaces so that watering can be efficient and less weeds would pop through bare soil
Nieve also chose her activity using symbols, working towards her Speech and Language target
Huge drums are used to collect any rainwater or surplus tap water. This water is used to water plants before hosepipes come out
Solar powered window openers automatically open and close greenhouse windows when the temperature is too high or low. This helps keep plants healthy
Gutters have been used on fences in a way to brighten the area but also champion a very important philosophy to reduce, reuse and repurpose
This planter has also been mended and planted up afterwards to reduce waste |
Team of the Week – Girls Football!
Girls Football
Got a great report and pics here on the girls football from Helen
It was the final matches for the Hedleys girls football team last week. We went along to the NUF Community Hub to take part in the cup games as the league had finished at the end of May
So not only were they playing for the cup, they would also find out where they had come in the league. Needless to say they were very excited!
The girls had six matches to play and unfortunately the weather was not kind to us so all the matches were played inside instead of on the rooftop Astro courts, which we were a bit upset about, but the games were still going ahead at least. The first game was a tough one and we lost 3-0 but the score did not reflect how well they played. The following five matches were two draws and two wins one of those being a 5 – 0 win!
The end results were that we came second in the Cup which is a fantastic achievement but the best result of all was that we had won the league. I am so proud of my girls they have played such good football, showed fantastic team spirit, fair play and always congratulated the team at the end of every match played so this is a very justified reward of which they are delighted
Wow, great stuff Helen and everyone in that squad. Here are some fab pictures too
Another lesson of the week – Outdoor Learning again!
This week the KS4 Outdoor Learning group has been doing some work on knots and pioneering. They attempted or managed to tie overhand knots, an overhand loop knot, reef knot and clove hitch using strawberry laces and strawberry pencils (or ropes and a stick if they preferred). This was followed by miniature tripods which then led on to some large scale pioneering which we took a stage further to make catapults. Blimey, that all sounds very technical! Good stuff! Outdoor Learning really has become an important part of the school. And this class is a pretty good class! Great stuff guys.
Another Fabulous Thing That Happened
Shae’s been getting things sorted and enjoyed having a bit of banter with Jamie. Great to see him, and great to see him looking good! Also great to see that he is giving good banter back to that Jamie! See you soon, Shae!
High-Powered Clever Learning of the Week – Tangrams!
The Guinea Fowl have this week been investigating properties of shapes through Tangrams, and spent a lesson investigating the use of Tangrams and using their core vocabulary words of quadrilateral and polygon. The students enjoyed the problem-solving and trial & improvement aspect of the task and all said it was much more challenging than they thought it would be and really made them think! Maths everyone! Great photos!
Makaton Signs of the Week
It’s been great to have these every week. So good to have so many trained professionals at the school, in so many different disciplines. OK, here’s your three for this week. I hope you’re using them, I hope you understand them, and they are easy to remember and not forget! ????
Understand
Remember
Forget
Engagement Stars of the Week – Puffins!
Puffins made the most of the sun yesterday and went down to the library and listened to some stories, followed by snacks in the cafe there. They then took a walk down to the park and had themselves a play before heading back to school. Lovely morning out! All STARS!!!
ELTBA Star of the Week
The ELTBA Team this week would like to give their Star of the Week to the wonderful Sadie in Starlings. For the past month Sadie has been working super-hard on developing independence skills whilst at the swimming baths and she has really excelled and persevered, even when she has found it challenging. Her team are very proud of her. Sadie, you are a complete STAR!!!!!!!!! Of course you are!
Also a huge Well Done to Jess in Starlings who went in the swimming pool for the first time since joining Percy Hedley and had an absolute splashing time ???????????? Well done Jess! STAR!!!!!
Another Star of the Week!
Well now this is a good one. Katie has trialled her new Powerchair this week with great success and taken a huge step in how good she is at it. She has made real improvements and progress that is really noticeable. Hugely well done, nice one Katie, we have always known that you are, but what a total STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!! you are. Congrats!
Finally…..Our first PROM!
PROM #1!
Less than a month away!
Finally finally…..
Summer Fair, 16th July!
The Wheel
All the very best to all of you, from all of us here
John & the Team
